Lancers Fall in Fargo
November 26, 2022 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Omaha Lancers News Release
FARGO, ND. - After falling in overtime to the Sioux City Musketeers on Wednesday (11/23), the Lancers traveled up to Scheels Arena in Fargo, North Dakota to take on the Fargo Force for two games.
The Lancers hosted the Force on November 12th and 13th for the first matchups since the Lancers swept Fargo in Omaha in the western conference quarterfinals back on April 25th and 26th of 2022.
The two matchups from this season resulted in two wins for the Force, by scores of 6-3 and 5-3 as they sit at the top of the league standings at 24 points with a record of 11-3-0-2 coming into tonight's matchup (11/25).
The game was kicked off with a Fargo power-play goal just 3:38 into the first period. Verner Miettinen netted his sixth of the season on a chip towards the net that was misplayed by Lancers' goaltender Michael Hrabal. The shot tipped off his glove and trickled over the line to give the Force the early lead.
It only took Omaha six minutes to tie it back up as Nate Benoit scored off a shot that tipped off a Fargo defenseman to give Benoit his second goal of the season and gave Griffin Jurecki and Drew Montgomery an assist each.
With all signs pointing towards a tie game at the end of the first period, JP Turner made a perfect redirect on a shot from Jakub Stender to send the Force to the locker room up 2-1.
The Lancers struck again 11:59 into the second period with Montgomery picking up his first goal of the season in his 100th USHL regular season game, giving Jurecki his second assist of the night in the process as Omaha tied the game at two.
Only two and a half minutes later, German Yavash scored on the power-play from the slot off a feed from Mac Swanson to retake the one goal lead, sending the game into the second intermission with Fargo up 3-2.
The Lancers had a strong start to the third period but couldn't capitalize on their opportunities to keep the alternating goal trend going. In doing so, Fargo scored what would be the game-winner off the stick of Anthony Menghini for this tenth of the season.
After Cole Knuble forced a turnover, he found Menghini with a lot of space to work, and he snapped a shot by the blocker of Hrabal to make it a 4-2 game. The first multi-point lead of the night.
It only took 23 seconds for the Lancers to get it back as Ryan Kusler netted an unassisted goal that beat Fargo netminder, Anton Castro five-hole, pulling Omaha back within one.
The night was closed out with two goals from Cole Knuble. One coming on the power-play with 2:08 left to play, and the other coming as the empty netter, as Fargo skated away with a 6-3 victory.
Going 3-for-6 on the man-advantage was a key component to Fargo's success, as their record improves to 12-3-0-2, with that, they continue to sit at the top of the league standings with 26 points.
The Lancers record falls to 5-9-3-1. And with a Tri-City Storm victory over Sioux Falls, the Lancers fall back into seventh place in the western conference.
The Omaha Lancers will be back in action, Saturday, November 26th for the third game of the road trip and their second straight in Fargo as they will take on the Force. Puck is set to drop at 6:05PM CST. and all the action can be caught on Mixlr and FloSports.
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